One of the inevitable by-products of having a team in the hunt is the omnipresence of rumours about how to upgrade the team for a playoff run.

For years, the Senators have been selling off assets at the deadline, trying to recover from trades and signings that went wrong.

To the joy of everyone in Sens Nation, the Senators are five weeks away from the March 7th trade deadline and look like they might be buyers for the first time since 2017.

Recently, the internal squabbles in the Vancouver Canucks’ locker room have become awkwardly public, highlighting a rift between assistant captain J.T. Miller and star forward Elias Pettersson.

In an interview with the Globe and Mail this week, GM Jim Rutherford openly admitted he's found no answers for the problem.

"But it only gets resolved for a short period of time and then it festers again, so it certainly appears like there’s not a good solution that would keep this group together."

That sparked every Sens insider to step into the role of Steve Staios, suggesting that a deal to acquire either of these disgruntled players could be the key to putting the team over the top. It also led to a trade rumour from The Fourth Period earlier this week involving Pettersson and Sens centre Josh Norris.

Rutherford has been around the sun 75 times and there is no way of knowing whether this talk is a diversion or if there is an actual problem.

For argument’s sake, let’s assume the rift is legitimate and that these two players simply can’t play together.

Two questions arise from this:

1. Why would the Vancouver Canucks want to part with either of these players, who seemed like integral parts of their future less than two years ago?

Miller is in the second year of a seven-year, $56 million extension, and Pettersson is in the first year of an eight-year, $92.5 million extension.

They have been teammates for five plus years. Both had career years last season. They are both having down years and now, all of a sudden, this is an irreconcilable situation?

Miller has always been ornery with teammates:

And he's also been ornery with the press:

Fans in Ottawa will surely recall Pierre Dorion’s 2018 announcement that the locker room was broken, resulting in the moves of players like Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson.

During the rebuild, one thing that never wavered was how tight-knit the dressing room was in Ottawa. Why invite someone who might jeopardize that situation?

If the Vancouver Canucks are genuinely looking to move one of these players, it can't be because of their talent. Both are elite players. It can only be because at least one of them, maybe both, aren't putting the team first.

1. Why would the Senators want to acquire either of these players at the expense of any of their current assets?

Names like Josh Norris, Tyler Kleven, and London Knights prospect Blake Montgomery have been mentioned as part of potential trade packages for Pettersson or Miller.

After two injury-plagued seasons, Norris appears to be finally becoming what he was projected to be when he signed his eight-year deal.

Even though his cap hit, along with Miller’s, would be a wash, how does it make sense to remove a piece from your seven-player profile? Miller is the number-one center in Vancouver. The Senators have a number-one center in Tim Stützle.

Is Miller better than Norris? Perhaps. Is Stützle better than Miller? Maybe not today, but within a year or two, he will be.

Tyler Kleven is on track to be the Senators' rookie of the year, unless Leevi Meriläinen continues his torrid pace. Kleven has only scratched the surface of his potential.

Do you want that potential realized somewhere else?

Blake Montgomery’s meteoric rise has provided excitement about a fourth-round pick that hasn’t been seen since Drake Batherson was selected in 2017.

It takes years to build a seven-player profile, and the Senators finally have one:

1. Star Offensive Center #1 – Tim Stützle

2. Star Offensive Center #2 – Josh Norris

3. Elite Power Forward – Brady Tkachuk

4. Specialist/Two-Way Forward – Shane Pinto

5. All-Star Offensive Defenseman – Jake Sanderson/Thomas Chabot

6. Elite Shutdown Defenseman – Artem Zub/Tyler Kleven

7. Elite #1 Goaltender – Linus Ullmark

As Jim Croce said:

"You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off that ol' Lone Ranger,
And you don't mess around with a seven-player profile that took seven years to build."

Especially when it comes to inviting potential locker room discord.

There are no shortcuts to the Stanley Cup. Steve Staios needs to build around these pieces to reach the Holy Grail of hockey.

This article is from The Hockey News Ottawa website. Other recommended articles include:

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